Chapter 42: Hope That Danger Will Come Late

  Under the command of Li Fude and Pang Zhong, on the city heads in the direction of the east gate and south gate, about 300 soldiers lined up, drew their bows to the same height, and shot out more than 300 arrows almost simultaneously with the leader's "Fire" order. The sound of the volley was very loud. In the terrifying sound of breaking through the air, a dense cluster of "flying locusts" appeared in the sky, flew upwards for a while, then slowly turned around and fell into the rebel army formation that surged up like a tide.

  After shooting a round of arrows, the first three hundred or so soldiers immediately retreated and waited for another three hundred or so soldiers behind to come forward. They drew their bows fully, just like the previous soldiers in front, and shot the arrows on the strings with the greatest force, without even looking at how much damage the previous round of arrows had caused to the rebels.

  After shooting, they immediately retreated, and the soldiers in the next round immediately came forward and shot arrows from their hands.

  After shooting the arrow, pull out the string and shoot again, which takes some time. In this way, two or three teams take turns to shoot, so that the time of pulling out the string can be filled up, achieving the maximum density of shooting. The arrows are shot continuously, repeatedly, causing the greatest damage to the enemy. Whether in the defense of a city or in the confrontation between two armies, this method is generally adopted, and the commanding general can order the subsequent soldiers to adjust the shooting angle according to the change of the enemy situation, shooting at the enemy from different directions.

  The area within Tongguan City that can be effectively shot is also small, and it's unlikely for several thousand soldiers to stand together and shoot!

  The arrows shot out in succession, with only a brief interval between them. By the time the first arrow landed on the rebel's head, the second arrow had already appeared above it. In terms of time, there were at most only ten seconds or so between the two volleys of arrows falling.

  Such intense gunfire would leave soldiers at the foot of the city with nowhere to hide.

  The height difference between the city wall and the ground is destined to exist, which will lead to such a situation: the arrows shot by the soldiers on the city wall can fall on the heads of the attacking soldiers below the city wall, but the arrows shot from below the city wall may not necessarily land on the heads of the soldiers on the city wall, or even reach the city wall. The range of the arrows shot by the soldiers on the city wall is definitely farther than those shot upwards from below, which is the principle of kinetic energy and potential energy at work, and cannot be overcome.

  This also allowed the Tang army on the city wall to start shooting at the rebels first, while the attacking troops had to advance a distance before they could shoot arrows onto the city wall.

  The rebels attacking the city can only speed up their charge, strive to rush to a place closer to the city, take countermeasures to fight back, rather than passively suffer blows.

  As the arrows fell, countless cries of despair came from the rebel army formation below the city, with innumerable rebel soldiers falling off their horses after being shot or being knocked to the ground. Some were seriously injured, and some even died on the spot. The shields held by the rebel soldiers were not dense enough to effectively resist the arrow fire, causing the rebel formation to fall into chaos instantly. Some commanding officers, including lieutenants, captains, and generals, were also hit, unable to continue directing their troops to form ranks. Meanwhile, the arrows shot out by the Tang army on the city wall continued to fly in dense succession.

  As the arrows of the Tang army officers on the city wall continued to fall, the rebels who rushed down quickly and prepared to counterattack and find a way to climb the city fell one after another. The continuous and miserable cries sounded outside the narrow Tongguan City East Gate and South Gate.

  The arrows that came with great kinetic energy still had a pretty big killing power. Many rebel soldiers fell to the ground and died quickly after being shot in important parts, and many soldiers were seriously injured and fell to the ground, becoming the target of the next batch of arrows or being trampled by their companions. Many soldiers who were preparing to attack the city had their bodies full of arrows, a bit like hedgehogs. The soldiers who looked like hedgehogs almost all lost their lives.

  After only a few rounds of arrow shots, the undulating open space in front of the city had already accumulated countless corpses. Many wounded soldiers who fell to the ground but were lucky enough not to be shot dead were trampled by their panicked comrades who rushed forward, and finally lost their lives miserably, adding height to the pile of corpses.

  After the Tang army's bed crossbows on the city wall began to fire, the miserable cries never stopped. By then, even the miserable cries were no longer as frightening and terrifying as they had been at first.

  I'm used to it!

  Li Fude, who had never experienced a defeat like Lingbao and had never fought against the rebels on the city wall of Tongguan, was excited and kept ordering his soldiers to shoot continuously, wanting to kill all the attacking rebels under the city wall.

  Even he himself could not bear it, Zhang drew his bow and shot arrows, emptying the quiver on his body before stopping.

  Li Fude's archery was quite good, and the twenty arrows in his quiver actually hit eighteen targets, with those who were hit either dying or being injured. A rebel general who was leading the charge was shot through by Li Fude's final arrow, falling dead on the spot, which led to a round of cheers from Li Fude's personal guards.

  The excellent performance of the main general also boosted morale, and some officers with good archery skills were also looking for opportunities to accurately strike the enemy. They picked out and shot at the rebel commanders who were directing the charge, such as Lang Jiang and Xiao Wei. Many rebel commanders were killed or wounded by arrows, and the rebel charge became even more chaotic.

  Li Fude believed that if they maintained this offensive, the rebels would never be able to set foot on the city wall.

  Pang Zhong, who was defending the south of the city, did not share Li Fude's optimism. He had just experienced a disastrous defeat at Lingbao, where his army of 100,000 men was almost completely annihilated. After escaping back to Tongguan, he only had 2-3 thousand soldiers left by his side, and the experience had left a huge shadow in his mind.

  Moreover, in the past half year, he had commanded countless defensive battles on the city wall and deeply understood the cruelty of Tongguan City's offensive and defensive warfare.

  Before the defeat of Lingbao Army, Tongguan City had sufficient military strength, exceeding that of the rebel army in number. Even the outer city of Tongguan, which was outside the main pass, had nearly 20,000 soldiers and horses defending it. When the rebels attacked the city, the defenders could take turns fighting on the city walls, and they didn't have to worry about running out of arrows.

  But now, there are only over 2,000 soldiers on the city wall of Hantanguan Castle. Almost all of them went into battle when the rebel army attacked the city, and even the rotating soldiers were not enough.

  Arrows can be said to be stored in the city are not few, and they will not necessarily be lacking, but the physical strength of the soldiers will definitely be exhausted.

  Drawing a bow and shooting an arrow is a very physically demanding task. Soldiers take turns shooting, and can sustain ten or twenty shots in a row without becoming exhausted, but after a long time, they will definitely become unable to draw their bows and shoot arrows far.

  By then, it was when the rebels began their large-scale attack on the city, and our army was desperately holding on.

  Danger will also appear at that time!

  Pang Zhong only hoped that the danger would come a little later.